App store optimization costs anywhere from $0 to well over $15,000 a month, depending on who does the work. Doing it yourself with free tools costs only store fees and your time. ASO tool subscriptions run from $9.99 to a few hundred dollars a month. Published agency plans start around $1,000 a month, and agency-reported retainers reach $7,000 to $15,000+ for full-service work.
ASO cost at a glance: pricing by model
Every number below comes from a named, linked source, checked in November 2026. Where no source publishes a reliable figure, the table says so instead of guessing.
| Model | What you pay | Sourced price points | Best fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| DIY with free tools | Store accounts plus your time | Apple Developer Program $99/year; Google Play $25 one-time registration | Pre-launch and early apps |
| ASO tool subscription (you do the work) | Monthly or annual plan | Appalize $0 to $99/mo; MobileAction $15 to $239/mo; ASOMobile $59 to $299/mo; Appfigures ASO plans $44.99 to $1,399.99/mo; AppTweak €99 to €959/mo; Sensor Tower custom pricing (sales call) | Teams with time but no budget for services |
| Freelancer or productized service | One-off project or hourly | Freelancer audit $1,500 to $4,000 one-time (AppAgent); AppDrift packages $490 (10 locales) and $1,990 (40 locales) one-time | Launches, audits, localization pushes |
| Agency retainer | Monthly fee, often with a minimum term | App Masters published plans $1,000 to $5,000/mo; AppAgent reports $2,500 to $7,000/mo for boutique agencies and $7,000 to $15,000+/mo for full-service agencies | Apps with revenue and many markets |
| Agency one-time audit | Fixed project fee | $2,000 to $7,000 (AppAgent) | A second opinion before you commit |
| In-house specialist | Salary, tools, creative budget | No reliable public benchmark for ASO-specific salaries; cost depends on location and seniority | Portfolios and apps where ASO is a core channel |
Sources: Apple Developer enrollment, Google Play registration, vendor pricing pages linked in the tool section below, AppAgent's ASO pricing guide (undated, accessed November 2026), App Masters pricing and AppDrift services.
Note: AppAgent is an ASO agency, and App Masters and AppDrift sell ASO services. Their figures are useful because they are published and attributable, but they describe their own corner of the market. Ask at least two providers for a written quote before you budget.
DIY ASO with free tools: about $0 plus your time
The cheapest way to do ASO is to do it yourself. Your fixed costs are the store accounts you already need to publish: the Apple Developer Program is 99 USD a year, and Google Play charges a one-time US$25 registration fee.
Beyond that, the built-in store tools cover more than most people expect:
- App Store Connect shows unique impressions and conversion rate in App Analytics, and its product page optimization feature tests up to three alternate product pages against your original for up to 90 days.
- Google Play Console includes store listing experiments for icons, feature graphics, screenshots and descriptions, with up to two variants against your current listing.
Free web tools fill the keyword gap. You can check search demand with a keyword popularity checker, keep every field inside Apple's and Google's limits with the metadata length checker, and score any App Store listing 0 to 100 with ASO X-Ray.
The real cost of DIY is time. Keyword research, metadata rewrites, screenshot updates, review replies and checking results all take hours every month, and they compete with product work. If you are at this stage, our guide on marketing an indie app with zero budget shows where those hours pay off first.
ASO tool subscriptions: $9.99 to a few hundred dollars a month
A paid tool replaces guesswork with daily rank tracking, popularity and difficulty scores, and competitor history. You still do the work; the tool makes it faster and measurable. Prices below are from each vendor's pricing page as of November 2026 (billed monthly, with annual rates in brackets where shown).
| Tool | Entry plan | Higher self-serve plans | Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|
| Appalize | Free; Indie Developer $9.99 | Pro $49.99; Enterprise $99 (unlimited apps and keywords) | Same $99 plan |
| MobileAction | Lite $15 ($12.50) | Basic $69 ($59); Pro $239 ($199) | Custom pricing (sales call) |
| ASOMobile | Free; ASO Indie $59 ($47) | ASO Pro $119; ASO Max $229; Maximum $299 | Individual plan on request |
| Appfigures | Monitor $44.99 ($35.99) | Optimize $149.99; Boost $599.99; Amplify $1,399.99 | Explore by sales call |
| AppTweak | Essential €99 (€79) | Grow €299; Expand €599 (5 apps) to €959 (20 apps) | Custom pricing (sales call) |
| Sensor Tower | Custom pricing (sales call) | Custom pricing (sales call) | Custom pricing (sales call) |
What moves your tool bill is not the logo but the limits: apps, tracked keywords, countries, seats and API access. For a full plan-by-plan comparison and a framework for choosing, see our ASO tools buyer's guide with pricing and plans.
Tip: Annual billing is the easiest saving. MobileAction and AppTweak price annual plans at roughly two months free, ASOMobile takes 20% off annual plans, and Appfigures advertises about 20% off.
Freelancers and productized ASO services
A freelancer is the middle ground: someone with ASO experience does the work, and you pay for a project or for hours instead of a monthly retainer.
Published numbers are scarce here, because most freelancers quote per project. Two attributable reference points:
- Freelance audits. AppAgent's pricing guide puts a typical freelance ASO engagement at roughly $1,500 to $4,000 for a one-time audit.
- Productized packages. AppDrift publishes fixed prices: $490 one-time for one app in 10 markets (metadata, localization, a screenshot set from a template and a 30-day rank report) and $1,990 for a 40-locale rollout with per-market keyword research.
What drives a freelancer quote:
- Scope. Metadata only, or screenshots, video and review replies too.
- Stores and locales. Each extra store listing and language adds research and writing.
- Cadence. A one-off launch package costs less than monthly updates and reporting.
- Experience and location. Rates on freelance marketplaces vary widely with both.
- Creative. Screenshot design and preview video are usually priced separately from keyword work.
Freelancers work best for a launch, a localization push or an audit. They are a weaker fit when you need weekly testing and reporting across many markets, because one person rarely covers strategy, copy and design at volume.
ASO agency retainers: from about $1,000 to $15,000+ a month
An agency gives you a team: a strategist, copywriters, designers and someone reporting results. Most agencies do not publish prices. Admiral Media, for example, states that it does not publish a price list, scopes fees per store-locale (one language version of one store listing) and runs programs for a minimum of six months.
The published and attributable figures we found:
| Source | What it covers | Price |
|---|---|---|
| App Masters (published plans) | Monthly ASO projects for one app, with higher plans adding Apple Ads management, design and ad channels | $1,000, $1,500, $3,000 and $5,000 a month; month-to-month; enterprise custom |
| AppAgent (market ranges) | Boutique and mid-market ASO agencies | $2,500 to $7,000 a month |
| AppAgent (market ranges) | Full-service specialist agencies | $7,000 to $15,000+ a month |
| AppAgent (market ranges) | One-time agency audit | $2,000 to $7,000 |
When you compare quotes, check what the retainer actually includes. App Masters' higher plans bundle paid ad management and design, while other agencies scope creative refreshes, custom product pages and extra apps separately. Two quotes with the same monthly number can buy very different amounts of work.
Warning: Be careful with any provider that guarantees a ranking position or offers ratings and reviews as part of a package. Nobody outside Apple and Google controls the rankings, and Apple's App Review Guidelines say developers who manipulate reviews or chart rankings, including through third-party services, can be expelled from the Apple Developer Program.
In-house ASO: salary, tools and creative
For a portfolio of apps, or an app where organic search is the main channel, many teams hire an ASO specialist or train a growth marketer. The cost is a salary plus the tool subscription plus a creative budget for screenshots and video.
We did not find a reliable, public, ASO-specific salary benchmark, and salaries vary heavily by country, so this guide does not quote one. To estimate it for your situation, use your local market rate for a mobile growth or performance marketing role.
In-house makes sense when:
- You ship updates often and want ASO tied into every release.
- You run many locales and need someone to own metadata in each.
- ASO, Apple Ads and creative testing should be decided by one person.
The hidden costs are tools for that person, design time, and testing. AppAgent's guide notes that enterprise experimentation platforms can cost $13,000 to $33,000 a year, which is worth knowing before you add one; the native Apple and Google test tools cover most early testing needs.
What drives the cost of ASO
Whatever model you choose, the same factors push the price up or down:
| Cost driver | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Number of apps | Each app needs its own keyword research, metadata and tracking |
| Stores | App Store and Google Play have different fields, limits and test tools |
| Locales and countries | Every language version is a separate listing to research, write and track |
| Update cadence | Monthly metadata and creative updates cost more than a one-off launch |
| Creative production | Screenshots, preview videos and icons per device size and language |
| Testing volume | More concurrent product page tests means more design variants |
| Paid search integration | Managing Apple Ads alongside ASO adds work and often a separate fee |
| Reporting | Weekly reports and calls are labor; dashboards from a tool are cheaper |
Localization is usually the biggest multiplier. A listing in 10 languages is close to 10 listings of work, and the screenshots multiply with it. Plan which storefronts matter before you buy, using a tool like the multi-country keyword checker to see where demand exists. Our guide to app localization for global markets helps you rank markets by return.
How to estimate ASO ROI before you spend
You do not need a perfect model. You need a reasonable estimate of what extra organic installs are worth and what you will spend to get them.
- Measure your baseline. Take your current monthly organic installs and conversion rate from App Store Connect and Play Console.
- Set a value per install. Use what you pay per install in paid channels, or average revenue per new user. Use the lower number if unsure.
- Estimate the lift as a range. Pick a conservative and an optimistic increase in organic installs. Base it on your own test results where you have them.
- Add up the monthly cost. Tools, freelancer or agency fees, creative and the value of your own hours.
- Calculate. ROI = (extra installs × value per install − ASO cost) ÷ ASO cost.
An illustrative example, with made-up numbers: a habit tracker gets 4,000 organic installs a month and values an install at $1.50. If ASO work costing $500 a month adds 600 installs, the return is (600 × $1.50 − $500) ÷ $500 = 80%. If it adds only 200 installs, the return is negative, which tells you to cut cost or change the approach.
The free ASO ROI calculator runs this math with your own numbers, and the conversion rate calculator helps you set the baseline. To decide which metrics to watch after a change, see our guide to ASO KPIs.
Which ASO budget fits your stage
| Stage | Sensible model | What to spend on first |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-launch or first app | DIY with free tools | Keyword research, a clear title and subtitle, clean screenshots |
| Early traction, small team | DIY plus an entry ASO tool | Daily rank tracking, competitor watch, native A/B tests |
| Growing revenue, a few markets | Tool plus freelancer projects | Localization, screenshot refresh, a one-time audit |
| Many markets or a portfolio | Agency retainer or in-house specialist | Ongoing testing, per-locale metadata, Apple Ads alignment |
Move up a level only when the current one stops being enough: you run out of time, keywords or markets, not because the next option sounds more professional.
If you go the tool route, Appalize starts free and its paid plans run from $9.99 to $99 a month, with daily rank tracking, competitor tracking and an ASO Editor for 50 locales. You can create a free account and upgrade only when you hit a limit.
FAQ
How much does app store optimization cost?
It depends on the model. DIY with free tools costs only store fees ($99 a year for Apple, $25 once for Google) and your time. ASO tools cost from $9.99 to a few hundred dollars a month, published agency plans start around $1,000 a month, and agency-reported retainers for full-service work run $7,000 to $15,000+ a month.
What is typical ASO pricing for an agency?
Most agencies quote after a call rather than publishing prices. App Masters publishes plans from $1,000 to $5,000 a month, and AppAgent's guide reports $2,500 to $7,000 a month for boutique agencies and $7,000 to $15,000+ for full-service agencies. Check minimum terms, which can be six months.
Is it cheaper to hire an ASO freelancer or an agency?
A freelancer is usually cheaper for a defined project such as an audit or a launch; AppAgent puts a typical freelance audit at $1,500 to $4,000. An agency costs more per month but covers strategy, copy, design and reporting together. Choose by how much ongoing work you have, not by the hourly rate alone.
Can I do ASO for free?
Yes. App Store Connect and Google Play Console include analytics and native A/B testing, and free web tools cover keyword popularity, character limits and listing audits. What you give up is time and the daily rank and competitor history a paid tool keeps for you.
How much should I budget for ASO each month?
Start from the value of extra organic installs, not from a market average. Estimate a conservative lift, multiply by what an install is worth to you, and keep your monthly ASO spend comfortably below that. Revisit the budget after one or two test cycles with real results.
What is the difference between ASO pricing and ASO tool pricing?
ASO tool pricing is what you pay for software that tracks keywords and competitors while you do the work. ASO pricing in general covers the whole job: tools, people (you, a freelancer, an agency or a hire), creative production and testing. The tool is usually the smallest part of the total.
